YOU NEED TO FOLLOW THE STEPS…
Throughout this course you have created different sections of your marketing plan. Now it is time to pull everything together. You will complete your marketing plan in two steps.
Step 1 of 2
For step 1, please do the following:
- Update and finalize your Executive Summary
- Create a Table of Contents
Step 2 of 2
- Submit your entire Comprehensive Marketing Plan (including every project assignment, starting with the Executive Summary and Table of Contents, and ending with your Controls).
Save your assignment as a Microsoft Word document.
Running Head: MARKETING STRATEGY 1
MARKETING STRATEGY 5
Marketing Strategy
Name
Institution
Marketing Strategy
Marketing strategies are plans of action plans put in place by a company in its bid to promote and sell its goods or services. It is an overall plan of the business on reaching as many people as possible and converting them into potential customers of the company (Gupta, 2017). A marketing strategy is designed with the aim of increasing company revenue through increased sales. This paper discusses the marketing strategy adopted by beauty clad collection.
Product Positioning
In order to attract more customers on board, the company would adopt a price discounting strategy whereby customers will pay less for durable products. However, the discount package would be available is goods are purchased in quantities. Elsewhere, the company would use product differentiation method such as producing a variety of clothes for all classes of people including children. The company’s market segment is the women who are working. Elsewhere, the company’s value proposition would the cheap way to look smart. In order to make our products different from others, the company would begin producing customized products that meet the specific needs of different customers.
Product Strategy
The company’s main products are clothes; therefore, in order to build a strong brand, the company plans to zero in the potential customers to its products by creating a brand name and advertising it to potential customers and being consistent in enforcing the brand message to customers.
Pricing Strategy
The company would adopt a penetration pricing strategy so as to attract more customers. This strategy would enable the company to have many customers and remain competitive in the market thereby relying on the big number of customers to earn its return on investment. The price set by the company would more attractive compared to the competitors whose prices remain high in the market. Based on this pricing strategy, the company would factor in the variable costs which are not very significant to affect the profit margins. Moreover, the fixed costs of the company remain the same and do not affect the profit margin depending on the price floor of the company.
Distribution Strategy
The company has the intention of getting its products to the customers through online shopping where the goods would be displayed on the social media platforms and distribute them through sales representatives who would deliver them to customers who give a special request (Racz-Akacosi, 2017). In order to cut down the costs, the company would adopt a direct channel of distribution whereby products go directly to the customers and avoid middlemen who would increase prices. Equally, the distribution channel chosen by the company gives it an opportunity to directly engage with customers and know their preference.
Marketing Communications Strategy
The company would use the social media platform as its main communication strategy since it has a bigger influence on many people thereby making it easy to attract many customers. Equally, the traditional marketing methods such as the use of sales representatives would be used to reach more customers directly. Moreover, the company would use promotion mix such as advertising both in print and television media channels (Racz-Akacosi, 2017). This would enable the company to increase its customer base and remain on a competitive edge.
Marketing Research
The main plan for market research is to identify what the customers feel is not desirable and how to improve it with a new feature or do away with it. In order to do this, there is the need for a good approach to the problem. It would be good to sample customers and listen to their views. Moreover, it is a good idea to use such market research tools as a one-on-one conversation where one is able to get quick feedback from the customers. The market research studies can be conducted by interviewing customers on a one-on-one basis or via telephone conversation. This would enable the company to measure the customers’ preferences and be able to change so as to suit their needs.
In summary, marketing strategies are plans of action plans put in place by a company in its bid to promote and sell its goods or services. The company’s market segment is the women who are working. In order to remain competitive, the company sets a penetrative pricing strategy so as to attract more customers.
Reference
Gupta, V. K. (2017). Marketing Strategy: A War to Win. Journal of Management Science, Operations & Strategies (e ISSN 2456-9305), 1(1), 21-24.
Racz-Akacosi, A. (2017). Differentiation between the Differentiated and Concentrated type of Marketing Strategy. Small.
Running head: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: BEAUTY CLAD COLLECTION
1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: BEAUTY CLAD COLLECTION
2
Executive Summary: Beauty Clad Collection
Student’s name
University Affiliation
Executive Summary: Beauty Clad Collection
Beauty clad collection is the ultimate ladies fashion clothing distributer across the state. The company is determined to market, sell, and supply a wide variety of ladies/women fashion clothing to every corner of the state. The business is motivated by the high demand for quality fashion for different age groups. The company has been in business for the past two and a half years, and it has managed to keep up with the ever-changing fashion trends both globally and locally.
The business deals with a variety of fashion products from women’s clothing, shoes, and accessories such as belts, purse, watches, and jewelry. These products have been classified into two main classifications which carter for both the needs of children fashion and ladies fashion. The children fashion section caters to fashion clothing needs of female children aged up to 15 years whereas the ladies fashion section caters to the needs of teenagers and women. There is a high market demand for these products which has greatly attributed to the success of the business. With the increasing market size and manufacture of quality products, the company has been able to sell all of its stock.
Besides providing quality and trendy products, the company offers sales in two types of consignments that is retail and wholesale packages. This has made it possible to expand the scope of services and products delivery as well as improve the relationship with different suppliers. In a years’ time, Beauty Clad Collection will embark on expanding its operations to the manufacturing of customized and new products in the market. Its long-term financial goal is to increase its sales from the current $750,000 to $5 million by the year 2020. This will be possible as the company will embark on intensifying its internal operations and expand its business location.
Situation Analysis
The most important part of any business is marketing. Therefore, the main target market is the ladies of between eighteen and forty-five years. This is mainly because these are the largest purchasers of women’s clothes, most preferably office ware. The main demographic for the target market is the women who are working class. The company is targeting to extend its operations to other countries so as to meet the ever-growing demand. The main market need is the provision of quality shoes and clothes. Moreover, there are several unmet needs in the market such as the children clothes that are still provided on a small scale as well as women suits. Based on what the company produces, the customers are able to benefit from the provision of a wide variety of clothes that are more durable compared to what the competitors offer. Elsewhere, the market offers market trends that one can capitalize on. This includes influencing the customer’s needs by introducing new and durable products at an affordable price. Equally, the provision of personalized and simplified products would bring more customers on board (Hicks, 2017). Worth noting, the company has experienced a tremendous growth in the market due to an increase in the number of customers who are associated with the products provided by the company.
Like any other business, the company conducted a SWOT analysis to gauge itself in the market (Melchiorre & Johnson, 2017). In its finding, the company’s key strength is its ability to provide durable clothing that meets the demand of customers. However, its main weakness is the inability to provide more women ware like the competitors are doing. Elsewhere, its main opportunity is the reduction of taxes on clothes by the State which enables it to use the surplus funds in expanding the business. On the other hand, the company’s main threat is the competitors who are employing a high-end technology that enables them to produce many and durable clothes at once that sometimes surpasses the demand. The company’s key competitors are the Ralph Lauren who controls a bigger share of the market. The competitors employ the 4 Ps (product, price, promotion and place) marketing strategy that enable them to reach their target audience. However, our company is able to remain competitive due to its ability to the customized and durable clothes that meet the needs of the customers. This is important because our customers would not wish to invest in clothes every other time.
In summary, Beauty clad collection is an amazing distributor of modern clothes for women of all classes within the United States. The main target market is the ladies of between eighteen and forty-five years. SWOT analysis enables a company to gauge itself in the market and know its strength and weaknesses and identify the areas for improvement.
Reference
Hicks, S. (2017). Strategic Analysis for Marketing Graduate Education (Doctoral dissertation, California State University, Northridge).
Melchiorre, M. M., & Johnson, S. A. (2017). Finding New Ways to Reach Older Students: Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan for Professional and Continuing Higher Education Programs. The Journal of Continuing Higher Education, 65(2), 73-81.
Running head: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: BEAUTY CLAD COLLECTION
1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: BEAUTY CLAD COLLECTION
2
Executive Summary: Beauty Clad Collection
Student’s name
University Affiliation
Executive Summary: Beauty Clad Collection
Beauty clad collection is the ultimate ladies fashion clothing distributer across the state. The company is determined to market, sell, and supply a wide variety of ladies/women fashion clothing to every corner of the state. The business is motivated by the high demand for quality fashion for different age groups. The company has been in business for the past two and a half years, and it has managed to keep up with the ever-changing fashion trends both globally and locally.
The business deals with a variety of fashion products from women’s clothing, shoes, and accessories such as belts, purse, watches, and jewelry. These products have been classified into two main classifications which carter for both the needs of children fashion and ladies fashion. The children fashion section caters to fashion clothing needs of female children aged up to 15 years whereas the ladies fashion section caters to the needs of teenagers and women. There is a high market demand for these products which has greatly attributed to the success of the business. With the increasing market size and manufacture of quality products, the company has been able to sell all of its stock.
Besides providing quality and trendy products, the company offers sales in two types of consignments that is retail and wholesale packages. This has made it possible to expand the scope of services and products delivery as well as improve the relationship with different suppliers. In a years’ time, Beauty Clad Collection will embark on expanding its operations to the manufacturing of customized and new products in the market. Its long-term financial goal is to increase its sales from the current $750,000 to $5 million by the year 2020. This will be possible as the company will embark on intensifying its internal operations and expand its business location.
Running Head: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 1
Running Head: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 4
Business Management
Institution Affiliation
Name of Student
Instructor’s Name
Action Program
There is a ready market for the final products of this fashion company with the targeted customers as campus students and the metropolitan city three miles from its location. With the business plan that is laid down, this company is yet to thrive well in the competitive business environment and industry. This company is preparing to achieve some of the goals and objectives that are outline below.
Goals
a) Maintain high quality service management program
b) Conduct business with accountability principles
c) Enhance professionalism in all business activities conducted
Objectives
i. To encourage staff recommendation programs for better service delivery
ii. To always aim higher and set achievable goals
iii. To encourage staff training programs
iv. To take part in business benchmarking programs
v. To instill respect, and time management as the business culture
Steps
a) Provide simple and clear company principles and guidelines to help new employees to adapt into the company culture faster
b) Provide employee orientation programs as well as employee training sessions together with motivational programs to improve their performance
c) Understand the company’s external environment including closest competitors in the industry.
d) Have regular meetings both senior staff and coding staff members to discuss organizational matters.
Following the staff development plan given, the staff development budget is therefore as follows:
The cording areas will include the attention for the expenditure in the following areas; supplies, transport, conference fees, membership dues, subscriptions, and equipment. This current budget will be based on the previous expenditures – prior year expenditure to avoid variance or deficit.
Item |
Prior-budget(US dollars) |
Amount spent (US dollars) |
Current Budget (US dollars) |
||
Supplies |
1200 |
1000 |
1100 |
||
Travel |
2000 |
2500 |
2 700 |
||
Conference fees |
1300 |
||||
Membership dues |
750 |
600 |
700 | ||
Subscriptions |
350 |
325 |
|||
Equipment |
5000 |
3000 |
3200 |
||
The coders are eligible to the above current budget but at designated time. The five coders don’t have to go for the two day conference all at once but if they do, there would not be any impact to the receivable account for that is accounted for in the budget but there would be an impact to the temporary replacement. This would mean that much have to be spent.
There are a few areas where there was variance in the budget allocation. The variance in the budget allocation may have occurred for different reasons in each case. For instance, travelling amount spent may have got the variance due to unexpected and unplanned travelling that was quite necessary. On the conference fees, the variance might have been caused by the unexpected increment of the fee due to high demand. On the other hand Equipment variance may have been caused by alternatively cheaper second hand equipment.
On the variance in the current budget allocation, it is due to precautions taken to prevent under estimation of cost. I reasoned that there will be no harm for an excess since it would be carried forward to the next budget as compared to a less budgeted expenditure that would demand more cash instead.
Financial Projections and Budget
After an intense financial analysis, this company is projected to experience an average sales volume of 588 fashion items each month for the starting year. This is obtained by finding the average sales volume of each quarter as follows: (2250 + 2350 + 2450) = 7050/12 = 588. The forecast of the expenses is provided with guidelines to the marketing cost as well as action programs outlined above. It is projected as follows:
Advertisements & promotion
$70,000
Transport
$45,000
Registration
$75,000 (Including company registration)
Equipment
$114,000
Total Expense
$304,000
January-April |
May-August |
September-December |
|
Average sales price |
$30.50 each |
$33.00 each |
$35.50 each |
Number of Items |
2,250 |
2,350 |
2,450 |
Total sale per month |
$68,686 |
$77,550 |
$122,475 |
sale per quarter |
$274,744 |
$310,200 |
$490,980 |
Since the initial capital for purchases is $125,000 for the start of the business in the first month, the total amount required to start the business and run it is determined as follows:
Expense
$304,000
Purchases
$504,000
Therefore; total
$808,000 (amount required)
Breakeven analysis that helps in calculating the payback period is as shown:
Quarter
Amount
Cumulative
1st quarter
$274,744
$274,744
2nd quarter
$310,200
$585,644
3rd quarter
$490,980
$1,076,624
Since the targeted value to attain the payback period is $808,000 it lies within the fourth quarter. Since each month of fourth quarter will make sales worth $122,745, September will make a cumulative of $708,389 whereas October will make a cumulative of $831,134 which meets the threshold ($808,000). This means that, in the first year of operation the company will be able to regain its initial investments in the 10th month.
References
Bureau E. Et al, (2015): Business Planning and Accountability, Business; Oxford University Press
The Denver Foundation, (2015): The Denver Foundation Inclusiveness Project; Professional Development Plan. Link:http://www.nonprofitinclusiveness.org/sample-professional-development-plan
Running Head:
Marketing Plan
1
Marketing Plan 5
Marketing Plan
Institution Affiliation
Name of Student
Instructor’s Name
Implementation Plan
One of the tactics that would be used in ensuring a smooth start up for this company is ensuring that there are enough marketing strategies. The target audience here are consumers of all ages which provide the advantage of accessing a wider platform for marketing. Our marketing style will focus on the quality of products we produce against other related products in the market. This will lay a foundation for achieving the goal of maintaining a close relationship between us and the final consumer. This will be conducted by developing a quick response program through the delivery check box and the internet. The internet will provide free sessions that will enhance live conversation between our customer care unit and our potential customers.
The internet platform will also ensure that each line of product we produce receives its feedback messages that help the company in make necessary adjustment to the products. This action will ensure that there is enough room for the company to meet customer taste and preference that will ensure that they keep customer loyalty. Internet marketing is affordable since the payments are made through a long term agreement in the duration with which the company would need a website to continue advertising. The company also will set up a website both in twitter and Facebook to incorporate the online community into taking part in the Company activities. The company will not only focus in marketing alone but also benchmarking with existing businesses to reinforce new ideas and innovation in the Industry. This will help in setting recognition of our business among other successful businesses and learn from the limitations they face.
Marketing Organization
To be able to achieve the implementation plan outlined above, there are a set of qualified teams and business leaders that will be entrusted with the duty of making the implementation process successful. Four main departments will deal with marketing; these are Finance, Marketing department, Communications department and IT department. Finance department will set aside 3 personnel, marketing department will set aside 4 personnel, communications department will set aside 4 personnel and IT department will set aside 2 personnel to help with this implementation plan. The duties are divided a follows:
Department |
Task |
Frequency |
Report progress To: |
|
Communication (Head: Ms. Thatcher) |
Attend & file report of all important benchmarking forums |
At least twice every month |
Board Members |
|
Finance (Head: Mr. Tobias) |
Reviews and certifies procurement of duties and services |
N/A |
Finance Manager (Dr. Timothy King) |
|
Marketing (Head: Prof. Estone) |
Conduct Online advertisement programs |
N/A |
Marketing Manager (Dr. Silas Delph) |
|
IT (Head: Ms. Mercy) |
Maintain high speed of connectivity and communication |
IT manager (Prof. Justin May) |
Contingency Plan
During the implementation of this plan, there would be a limitations and obstacles that would be faced in the process of its accomplishment. One of the limitations that might be faced is breakdown of IT equipment. This would shut down all communication systems in the company including access of internet. It would limit the free flow of information as planned which would limit quick feedback channel between the customers and the customer care unit. This would interfere with over 75% of the marketing plan. To be able to stay on track in case such a thing happens, there will be a backup plan equipment that is automated to take over immediately the main equipment breaks down. The backup IT equipment will be able to access all data through cloud computing technique to restore previous sessions in less than 10 minutes of its trigger to start functioning. This backup equipment will be managed from a different IT agency with which our company will be insured against malpractice of data manipulation.
References
Bureau E. Et al, (2015): Business Planning and Accountability, Business; Oxford University Press
The Denver Foundation, (2015): The Denver Foundation Inclusiveness Project; Professional Development Plan. Link:http://www.nonprofitinclusiveness.org/sample-professional-development-plan